Hey AGRoura… why don’t you read the rules about posting that are listed just below. Maybe it is you who should get out of CT! David, please pay no mind to these rude and offensive comments. Things can get heated in these pages from time to time and I’ve gone at it with some people here myself. But I can’t recall another post that has made me angrier and embarrassed at a fellow CT member than the one above. Post your comments in whatever form you feel best and whenever you feel you’re ready. Many of us still look forward to reading them.

Seems to me that would make for an excellent “blog” entry, which, once posted, you could link to from a comment here. Still… I don’t believe there is a limit on the length of individual comments – I’ve seen some rather lengthy ones. And the memory would very much relate to this page. I look forward to reading it, in whatever form it winds up taking!

Tonight, I completed a long-contemplated written account of the unforgettable experience of the first-run presentation of “Ben Hur” at Loews State Theater in New York. As the wondrous nature of this experience resulted from a host of fine details which all contributed to the whole impact, my account is really lengthy. I have endeavored to contact a Cinema Treasures site administrator for advice as to whether to proceed with posting such a thing. On the advice of a member identifying himself as “Coate”, I will probably place this on the “Happy 50th, "Ben Hur” page if there is no substantial objection to my proceeding with this.

I found it interesting that the marquee wasn’t going to have traditional changeable letters but would get a new special for each attraction. I remember when it was a twin, each side of the marquee had its own custom display but eventually they played movies for which they wouldn’t or couldn’t make a special display and it was back to the red letters on a white background.

I was delighted to read this article; although I was sure that the seat upholstery fabric was primarily gold colored. This was a half-century ago, so I could well be wrong. I am sure that, when I complete and post my recollection of the first-run experience of “Ben Hur” at Loews State, someone is going to dispute some of the details which I recall. Such is life, and the limitations of human memory.

In a few days, I will definitely put together an account of the Loews State “Ben Hur' first-run experience. I wish I could find reliable info about that enormous refurbishing that they did on the theater for this premiere run. I had not seen the interior of the theater before I saw this film there, but I understand that they made major changes.
– Dave Greene

In browsing the community guidelines link below, I don’t see anything about limitations to the size of a post as long as it’s relevant to the theater…and what you propose is EXACTLY what people value reading here. Please post it. If by some chance you do run up against some limit on size, just continue in another post.

I tried to set down a reasonably brief description of the first-run experience of “Ben Hur” at Loew’s State. There were just too many details that I deem to be essential to communicating the magic of that experience. I felt that the amount of text this description would require would be so great as to almost certainly violate some rule governing how much you could post in any one comment. I am nevertheless determined to set it all down in writing. The whole thing was just too unique in all my years of moviegoing, and I am still thrilled by the memory. If anyone knows a way that I might pass along the completed account to anyone that might be interested, I would be only too pleased to share the thing. I’ll monitor this site for suggestions.

I second the motion. Please do it, David. I’m seeing the 8K digital presentation of Ben-Hur at the New York Film Festival this Saturday in Alice Tully Hall, but I’m going to pretend it’s 1959 and I’m at the Loew’s State.

I positively “haunted” this theater during the first-run engagement of “Ben Hur”. The remodeling of the theater for that show, together with the brilliant customization of their presentation of the film absolutely enchanted me at age 14. William Wyler’s renowned meticulous attention to details seemed to have been carried over to the way this theater handled the screening. This is a lost art. I have long considered writing a detailed account of the experience they provided as the modern Cineplex has made so much of that sort of finesse extinct.

Just uploaded a scan of the little foldout program (not the deluxe souvenir book) handed out on the night of the world premiere and presumably during the roadshow engagement of “Ben-Hur”.

I’d love to learn anything that anyone could tell us about the “Ben-Hur Bar and Cocktail Lounge”, such as what the setup actually consisted of, and whether it operated throughout the long roadshow engagement or just for a limited time.

Abe Balaban from the company of Balaban & Katz was asked what he thought movie theaters would be like in the future. He said I believe there will be huge screens and thousands of seats and all the theaters would be connected to a main giant concession booth. And this was during the time they were building their palaces in Chicago! Of course no one could imagine the impact of television on the industry!

I would doubt it very much – inasmuch as he died in 1927 during the heyday of the building of the grand movie palaces when many of his theaters still had vaudeville and stage shows. As most CT readers know, he very famously remarked that Loew’s “[sold] tickets to theaters – not movies.” I think he would have been appalled at some of theaters that later bore his name.